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| "We were also paid €6 billion to change our flag" |
Serhan Turkoglu stands outside one of Istanbul’s many
visa-application bureaus, clutching his flight and hotel bookings,
travel insurance, proof of employment, social-security registration,
recent salary slips and bank statements, and a vehicle licence. Mr
Turkoglu, an accountant, needs all of this simply to secure a holiday
visa to Spain. For his next European holiday he will have to go through
the whole rigmarole again. “It makes you feel like a second-class
citizen,” he says.
Turkish diplomacy towards the European Union is focused on obtaining
visa-free travel. It is easy to see why. Turkey has been negotiating to
accede to the EU for more than a decade; it is the only candidate
country whose citizens still need visas to enter the bloc’s Schengen
area. Peruvians, Malaysians and Mexicans, by contrast, no longer need
visas to travel there.
Europe’s panic in the face of mass migration from the Middle East has
provided Turkey with a new opening. In March, in exchange for a pledge
to re-admit thousands of migrants deported from Greece, the EU offered
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s president, €6 billion ($6.8 billion)
in aid, progress in the moribund membership talks and visa-free travel
for his people by June.
To qualify, Turkey must meet 72 benchmarks by late April, from
biometric passports to better data-protection. Turkey’s prime minister,
Ahmet Davutoglu, claims that his country already meets most of the
conditions. But the EU says much more needs to be done. “The criteria
will not be watered down,” insists the European Commission’s president,
Jean-Claude Juncker.
In fact, it is hard to see how Turkey could meet the political
conditions for visa liberaliation. These include bringing its terrorism
laws into line with the EU’s, and guaranteeing the rights to assembly
and free speech. But for quite some time, Turkey has been restricting
political activity and going in the wrong direction on human rights.
The government is prosecuting a group of academics on terrorism
charges, after they signed a petition to end a crackdown against the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that has raged in Turkey’s south-east
since last year. Two journalists face life in prison for reporting on
covert arms shipments to Syria.
Last week a Dutch columnist was detained
and barred from leaving the country pending trial; her offence was a
profane tweet and an article calling Mr Erdogan a “dictator”.
If the commission agrees that Turkey meets the benchmarks, on May 4th
it will recommend that the EU’s 28 governments (as well as the European
Parliament), approve visa-free travel for Turkey. In theory this could
be done by a qualified-majority vote; in practice, rejection by a large
country would torpedo the deal. Far-right anti-Muslim parties are
surging in many parts of the continent.
With Marine Le Pen looking
stronger in the run-up to France’s presidential election in 2017, notes
Marc Pierini, a former EU envoy to Turkey, “France cannot afford to vote
yes” to visa-free travel.
Turkish officials warn of a diplomatic train crash if they do not get
their way. The first victim would be Europe’s migrant deal. “If the EU
does not keep its word, we will cancel the readmission agreement,” the
country’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said recently.
Note Insure-Digest: If
Turkey cancels the agreement because of Europe's democratic election
system, respect of human rights, and freedom of expression - one can only
say - "Mr Erdogan - it takes two to Tango, and if you want to shoot
yourself in your foot, be our guest".
Read more: Clearing customs | The Economist
